Film Review: Youth Without Youth (2007)

The other day, I went with my friend Josh to see a screening of Francis Ford Coppola's film, Youth Without Youth. I was pretty excited about this film because a) it was one of Coppola's first films in a while and b) the man himself was going to be there to introduce it, along with a cast interview after the film.
After finding our seats and enjoying our popcorn and brownies, courtesy of the theater we were at (the Paris I think), Mr. Coppola himself came out. After giving us a long speech about the film and how it was independent and such-and-such, Coppola told us that he, and I'm paraphrasing here, "didn't want this film to be one that we would have to think about a long time after, but something that we could enjoy for what it was." He also reminded us that both Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Godfather (1972) were panned when they first came out, but then went on to be classics. He then left the theater, and didn't come on again after the film. And as Josh and I both decided after the film, he probably left because he knew what type of film he was presenting us. A piece of crap.
I am so mad that I sat through this existential self-indulgent turd. Those are three hours I will never get back. This film made absolutely no sense and carried on for way to long.
The plot, well, if you call it that, had something to do with a man (played by the excellent Tim Roth) at age 70 who, while living in Europe right before WWII, gets struck by lighting and, after surviving, wakes up to discover that he has aged back to that of a 22 year old. From here on out, I have no idea what the hell was happening.
I'm pretty sure there were Nazis...oh, and something to do with the God Shiva and reincarnation. Matt Damon also makes a cameo. And roses. Lots of stupid roses. That's really all I got from this film. Every time I thought I understood what was going on, something weird and dumb would happen, and the film would shift course dramatically.
I have absolutely no idea why this film is recieving all the praise that it has gotten. It's not a good film. Sure, it looks like an old black-and-white film the way it was shot. Sure, but so what? It's still not a good film.
Would I recommend this film? No...well...wait, no, no I wouldn't.

Bleh/10

Film Review: The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

I've had a very wide selection of reactions when watching Wes Anderson films. The first one I saw was The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) which I really enjoyed. Then Rushmore (1998) which I thought was overly pretentious. As for The Life Aquatic (2004), I had mixed feelings. So needless to say, I approached The Darjeeling Limited (2007) with some trepedition. Thankfully however, I quite enjoyed the film.
The short film that played before it was quite interesting, and I wonder if I would have enjoyed the actual film as much if I hadn't seen it, as it originally was released...meh,probably.
The film concerns three American brothers who embark on a spiritual journey by way of and Indian transport train, named of course, The Darjeeling Limited. As the film goes on, we learn different secrets and weird traits associated with the sibilings, all of who try to just get along.
I'm not sure why I liked this film. I'm not sure that it was anything special. But I found myself enjoying it the whole way through, never once getting bored or anxious, which usually happens at least once to me in Wes Anderson films.
Anyway, if you love Wes Anderson, you're going to love this film. If you don't...well, you'll still probably find something to enjoy here.

7/10

Commercials

Okay, I know I'm not the first person to complain about this and that it has been done to death, but why the hell do they show commercials in front of movies? I'm not talking about movie previews, but actual commercial-commercials. I am not a fan of going to a theater just to see the Vitamin Water commercial I just saw on the tv on the big screen. It's not enough that the commercial is bad or repetative, but now it's 30 feet tall (I suck at math) and loud as hell. Hurrah. At least try and make good commercials. Like how about this one.

We open up on the Mexican Border.

It is night time and we see three Mexicans attempting to sneak across.

Suddenly a gaurd spots them, and order them to hault, which they do not do.

He opens fire, hitting two of them and hitting the third in the leg, who limps away.

The Mexican man falls into a bush and, sighing, reaches into his pocket and pulls out a roll of mints, of which he pops one.

He then jumps out from behind the bush and karate chops the gaurd in the neck, taking off his head.

Finally, he turns to the camera and smiles, holding up the mints.

Mentos, the Freshmaker!



I dunno, I just throwing stuff out here.

Concert: Dan Deacon 11-15-07

First off, let me just say that the LoFi Social Club in Baltimore is a great venue! I really enjoyed the feeling of seeing a concert in what can only be described as an art gallery/bar, and it really worked.

The first band that went on was called We Are the Seahorses. These crazy bastards put on one of the most unique shows I have ever seen. Throughout their set, they danced around in their underwear, threw costumes into the crowd, bumped into the audience, and threw around (hopefully) fake blood. I have never seen anything quite like this, but I am now a die-hard fan. Long live We Are the Seahorses!

Next up was Swen Leather, which was a weird trio of guys making random noises on their synth machines. The song weren't really songs, but more of weird glitches and noises, a bit like Wolf Eyes. Everytime a song started to sound like it had a danceable beat, it would switch off into a completly different sound. This was interesting at first, but got a little old for me when it kept going. Still, it was interesting.

Parts and Labor were next, and I really enjoyed this show. I think I saw them play at a warehouse show before, but I don't think I was sober enough to pay attention. This time I was right up front and enjoyed myself. The drummer in particular was quite good, with his drumming for each song sounding like a solo. Good stuff.

Finally, Dan Deacon came on, along with Video Hippos and Height, to engage in a music battle that was quite cool. Each artist took turns playing one song, Video Hippos going first, then Height, followed by Dan Deacon. Video Hippos has a cool set-up, with crazy images and videos being projected on a screen behind them while they played. Height was good, but his rap style didn't quite fit with Video Hippos or Dan Deacon. And Dan Deacon, of course, was amazing, playing songs off his new Spiderman of the Rings as well as older stuff that was just as good.

This show blew my mind and for $5, you really cannot go wrong. Great stuff.

Concert: A Place to Bury Strangers

Last Wednesday, the seventh I believe, I attended the Black Angels/A Place to Bury Strangers show at the Bowery Ballroom. I had heard a lot about both bands and their live shows, though I was really more excited to see A Place to Bury Stranger (who I will now refer to as Strangers) because I had actually heard some of their music. And, if your not familiar with their sound, try to imagine what it would sound like if you combined She Wants Revenge with Sonic Youth but and then turned up the feedback of a guitar to 10. It works, trust me. Anyway, I caught the opening band Spindrift, who had a strange psychedelic/western sound to them. However, I couldn't help but feel that all of their songs sounded quite similar.
After that, it was time for Strangers to go on. As the lights dimmed, three or four people with professional cameras ran towards the stage to get the best shots. However, it turned out I probably had the best spot, as I ended up being directly in front of lead singer/guitarist Oliver Ackermann. Now, you may have heard that the band is loud. Well, you heard correctly. As soon as they started playing, I almost ran back to the end of the club due to the noise level. However, I didn't want to loose my great spot, so I stayed. Am I quite glad I did. Not only did the band sound great, but the show itself was awesome. The lighting which started out with a bright blue light silhouetting the band and eventually turned it to a mad strobe show. Also, Ackermann's fronting abilities were good. He never really spoke to the audience, but instead went crazy with his guitar, strumming it to the point where I thought he would bleed, playing with the feedback on the speakers, and even pulling out the strings while it was still plugged in and proceeding to throw the guitar around. Cool stuff.
After there show, everyone was buzzing for the Black Angels, but to be honest, I only stayed for one song. They were okay, but I didn't feel like they could really live up to the show that had gone on before it, and because of this I left. Don't give me shit, I stand by it.

Animal Collective's "Peacebone" video

Above is the video for the Animal Collective song "Peacebone" off their newest cd Strawberry Jam (2007). I will not try and explain the plot to you, mostly because I'm not sure I fully understand it. However, I do love me some aliens, and not only does this video have them, but they are at a carnival! A carnival? I love carnivals!!

Nicole Kidman, because I can..

Why do I have this picture of Nicole Kidman? Because I took it a while back and meant to upload it with my review of the film Margot at the Wedding (2007) but wasn't able to because the owner of the camera had not uploaded the picture(s) yet. However, I still want to put it up now, this late in the game, not just to say "holy shit, look how close to Nicole Kidman I was!", but also because...well....I was indeed, very close to Nicole Kidman. So there. Oh, and check out my friend Josh's blog for a higher quality.....even though I still took the picture...

Josh's Blog: http://jlsproductions.blogspot.com/